The Dark Side of The Mirror (probable title)
by homeiswinterfell
Summary: Alternate Universe version of the original Star Trek. The Starship Enterprise was only supposed to transport Klingon outlaw Captain Koloth to trial for crimes against the Federation, but their shuttlecraft crashed on an icy planet and a complicated series of events unfold. (posted in sections) Dedicated to actor William Campbell who gave us Trelane and Captain Koloth.


Story One: The Winter Planet

The steel gray clouds hung low over the snowy landscape, they were in constant motion, roiling and undulating in the icy wind. The planet was too far from its sun and instead of daylight and dark there was only twilight and blackness. Her double moons and the multitude of stars shown brightly, but could not penetrate the permanent cloud cover.

The temperature during the day was a mere -26.C, but even that was balmy compared to the nighttime plunge to a bitter -40 C. The wail of the wind made it seem much colder, and living things learned to adapt. Animals evolved a thick skin and even thicker coat. The bipedal population of the planet were squat and heavily muscled, males and females equally well furred and clad in soft cured skins. Apparently, They had not grasped the concept of the wheel yet, but had obtained fire from lightning strikes and used it to warm themselves, light their living spaces, craft their weaponry and of course to cook their meals.

Food was scarce, and they used the natural cave systems for shelter, moving from area to area shadowing the deer herds that ranged through the sparse brush and twisted conifer forests. Morel-like mushrooms, pine nuts and even lichen rounded out their normal diet.

Strength and size meant survival, the powerful and aggressive lived, and the weak died quickly in this world. On the winter planet when breath froze and fell as exhaled, and the wind shrieked and shivered through the spruce boughs and water willows, there were long periods of time when no game at all could be found and the clans starved in their caverns.

It had begun long ago, born from necessity, the very young and the very old died of the bitter cold and starvation, so to save the living, the dead had become food. Now the ragged bands hunted one another in the lean times, and the stronger, well fed tribes won, obtaining food, and supplies and eliminating competition for the wary game animals.

Weaponry was deceptively crude and devastatingly lethal. The stark, volcanic landscape was shaped and veined with jet black flows of glass-like obsidian that could be flaked and chipped into razor-edged knives, spear points and arrowheads. Their longbow was in its infancy yet and not powerful enough to kill more than the small rodents and rabbits, but a well-placed arrow could slow an ice bear or a rival tribesman until it could be surrounded and killed by club and spear.

Dusk, and it was a place without mercy, a world rendered in white and gray, silent except for the wind. Then a faint, steady noise that quickly grew to an eerie whistle. The shuttlecraft came in low and much too fast, its trajectory dropped it below the clouds and immediately the craft was clipping the tops of the taller firs, then lower and crashing through the spruce and brush before slewing into a slight rise and breaking into two large sections upon impact. The larger and heavier section slid to a gradual stop in a snowy meadow, but the smaller section cartwheeled violently through same field throwing a fan of debris as it disintegrated.

Then once more only the howl of the wind, for a dozen heartbeats before the throaty screams of a woman rent the wilderness.

The Klingon was sprawled awkwardly on his side in the snow near the rise where the ill-fated shuttle had first hit ground. He opened his eyes and listened for a moment as he regained his bearings, setting his teeth against the pain he rolled his shoulders and then sat up. Somehow the shuttle crash had thrown him free, but with a low snarl Koloth noted that he was still manacled at his wrists and chained at the ankles.

 _Free, but not free, and cast onto this icy bitch of a planet to boot._

The snow was fine and dry, more like salt or sugar, blowing easily in the wind, and the Klingon captain loathed the cold. Soundlessly he rolled onto his feet and stood there surveying the area. He watched the ruins of the Enterprise shuttle for a bit, but did not hear or see any obvious signs of life from the wreckage. Then he turned his dark gaze to the forested hills, finally moving towards their shelter, choosing to let the wind push at his back. He moved slowly, his long stride hobbled by the short length of heavy chain. He did not care if there were survivors for the Earthers had chained him like an animal and were set to either imprison or kill him. He owed them nothing, in this life only the strong survived.

Kirk's eyes snapped open and he tried to jump to his feet before realizing he was still securely strapped into his seat. Automatically his hands found the center release for the safety harness and with a click it fell away from him and he stood, wincing at the pain of deep bruises and strains.

He knew what had happened, their transport shuttle had crashed when both engines had shut down suddenly over the bleak Class M planet they had been passing. Their pilot had tried to glide them into a dead stick landing, but the heavy cloud cover had taken them right into the trees and it had all gone terribly wrong after that. He remembered the stunning jar of hitting something solid, then debris was flying everywhere, and they were rolling. Then, nothing.

"Status report. Who's here?" Kirk looked around and saw that a good third of the craft was just gone, including the seats where the Klingon had been sitting with two Enterprise guardsmen. At the velocity with which they had crashed, surely all three were dead or dying somewhere nearby.

"Davis here Captain."

Kirk followed the voice and through the gloom saw his pilot, Michael Davis, sitting in his seat gingerly cradling his right forearm.

"Bailey here Captain!"

Rhea Bailey had been standing almost directly behind Kirk and absolutely still so he had not noticed here at first. Now she stepped forward and Kirk could see by the emergency lighting that she was ashen and her face was peppered with bits of glass and bleeding in a couple of places.

"Sit down Bailey. How badly are you hurt?"

"Everything hurts, but not too badly. It's so cold though."

"Davis, do you think your arm is broken? Are you injured anywhere else?"

"Yes Sir, the arm is broken below the elbow. I can….see the bone."

"Both of you sit down. Davis, see if you can reach either the space station or the Enterprise. I am going to see if I can find the rest of the crew, and our 'guest' as well. I'll bring back the emergency kits and we should be fine until we are rescued." Kirk knew they were a long way from being 'fine' but he needed his remaining crew to throw off the shock that was settling on them. He made his way to the gaping hole in the fuselage without finding any further dead or injured. He was missing three crew members and one prisoner.

Kirk paused at the edge of the ruined cabin, peering outside. The wind was whistling shrilly around the shuttle and pushing against the sides of the wreckage. He shivered against the cold, then stepped out into the elements. The debris field was large, but he moved towards the biggest chunk of wreckage where a body or bodies might be concealed. That last piece of cabin was about 92 meters away from where he stood. Almost immediately he found a disturbed area in the snow and dropped to one knee. The wind was busily trying to erase whatever had happened there. It looked as if someone had lain there and then after some time stood…..making their way…where? If there had been a trackline of prints the wind had taken them.

Reaching down, Kirk brushed at the snow and saw a now frozen blotch of red ice revealed. Looking carefully he saw that there were boot prints leading away, and scuffle marks that only leg manacles could leave, Koloth had lain here, thrown free of the crash somehow. Blood proved that the Klingon was injured, yet managed to escape. With a sigh Kirk scanned the meadow and tree line, but there was no sign of the escapee. He couldn't go very far, not injured, not shackled, and not in this cold. All the Klingon had done was to sentence himself to a lonely death by fleeing.

Kirk stood, dusting the snow from his hands and continuing towards the cast-off chunk of wreckage, bending almost double against the sting of the wind. He had nearly reached it when a bright spot of crimson caught his eye. He found Crewman Martinez there, or what remained of her, face down in the shin high snow. Carefully, Kirk carried her shattered remains to the broken hull. The second guard waited there, ensconced within the crumpled section, still buckled in his seat, probably dead on initial impact. After placing both bodies side by side for later retrieval, and claiming their phasers and restraint keys, Kirk studied the distant tree line again, looking for Captain Koloth. The shuttle was still missing Ensign Zia Shelby, but Kirk had little hope of finding the petite young woman alive.

Finally he turned back towards the ruins of his shuttle, and realized that he was shivering violently in just his tunic and trousers. They all needed warmth if they were to survive until rescue. It was best to stay with the wreckage, it had some battery backup for light and radio contact, and perhaps he could rig some kind of temporary heating system. The tracker beacon was also there, sending its steady distress signal.

He fought the wind the entire trip back to the wreckage, making painfully slow progress. Once he paused, for he thought he heard a scream over the shriek of the wind, but continued when the noise did not repeat.

Kirk sighed in relief as he stepped into the relative warmth and calm of the shuttle, and immediately froze. The cabin was empty, and the coppery scent of blood barely lingered. The floor was wet with fresh blood, two lives worth of it, and drag marks where his crewmembers bodies had been taken away. Rage burned white hot inside Kirk. They had survived the crash only to be slain and taken. Immediately he thought of Koloth. The ruthless Klingon captain had watched as he left, then circled around and slain both Davis and Bailey. His hand automatically moved to rest on the phaser at his hip.

Kirk pushed the rage back and moved out into the cold. Now he saw the faint spatter trail where red blood marred pristine snow, the already fading foot prints. This was not Koloth, this was more than one person, and what could be several dog-sized creatures, and they had taken his crew with them toward the shadowed forest.

Now he was missing three crew members and one prisoner. He had to know if his crew was truly dead, and there was a good chance that they also had the missing Ensign Shelby. Moving quickly now, bruised body forgotten, Kirk moved back into the shuttle fuselage and to the storage area. He found an emergency locker intact and pulled out a medi-kit and donned a long forgotten jacket that had been tossed inside. With three phasers, he felt well-armed for whatever lay ahead.

He moved as quickly as he could, following the tracks before they were erased, but they were faster and clearly had a set destination in mind. At least once they were inside the forest, there was less wind to deal with and he made better time. Then a slight flicker of movement from the corner of his eye and he whirled towards it, drawing his phaser as he turned.

The Klingon was cagey, trying to slip past him and get to the shuttle, to shelter and perhaps food and medical supplies, but chained and injured he was slow and awkward.

"Don't move Koloth. I don't have time to waste with you, just give me the opportunity to put you out of my misery for good."

Even wounded and half-frozen, Koloth grinned wryly at his nemesis's words. "You have time Kirk, the two they have are dead. I saw them."

The phaser did not lower from its aim, and it was set to kill. "You. Saw. Them? Did they have any others from my crew?"

"I did, they only had two of yours- both dead and carried along, they are five in number, but those are only the ones I saw. I know there are more, and they have a pack of creatures with them, odd things, more like vlghro', what you call…..cats, but much larger."

Kirk scowled at the Klingon and watched him closely. "You are wasting my time Koloth. I need to catch up with them. I am tempted to leave you here chained to a tree, but instead I shall leave you to slink back to the shuttle and hide there until rescue. I am going after my crew."

The Klingon visibly bristled at the insult, drawing himself up a bit taller. "I was not 'slinking' anywhere Captain. I was going to try and get rid of these chains." Then he visibly relaxed and grinned, holding up his manacled wrists. "A deal then, one of honor. Free me from these chains, arm me, and I will help you hunt down those savages and reclaim your crew. Where would I flee too?"

The Klingon irritated Kirk. He always had. "You have no honor, so no deal. I _will_ free you Koloth, but I will not arm you. You would shoot me in the back in a moment."

"Never in the back, one day, in a fair fight perhaps. I do have an idea of how we can accomplish all you want. Get these off of me and I will explain as we move for I am slowed and they gain on us with every passing moment Kirk."

A few minutes later the Captain and his Klingon counterpart moved through the woods, parallel to the raiders' path. True to his word, Koloth explained his plan.

"Trust me Captain, that horde was _hunting._ I am certain of that. We are going to draw them to us and then kill them, take their weapons and furs, and reclaim your fallen crew and return to the shuttle."

Kirk glanced at Koloth skeptically. "How do we 'draw' them to us?"

The infuriating grin was back, and Koloth reached up to indicate the sets of chains he had slung over his shoulder. "I shall be the bait. They will come to investigate, and from ambush, you will use your phasers and kill them, and their pack of cats. When the first one falls, I will take his weapons and help you!"

"You, would be the bait. Koloth, your plan is insane."

"I am slowed slightly. They and their cats will smell the blood. A little noise, a bit of blood and they will come. Captain, you did not see them. They looked _hungry._ I will not fully lock the chains, only make it seem so."

This earned a hard look from Kirk. "Why are you doing this? What's in it for you?"

This time the Klingon smirked slightly. "At this time, being free of restraints, with a chance for battle and a warm fur coat is the best I can hope for."

They angled away and downhill, moving as fast as they could to gain ground on the hunters and set up an ambush site. At last they judged themselves far enough ahead and set their trap. Koloth sat down with his back against a mature fir, and carefully draped and arranged the shackles around his ankles, and across his lap. He looked up at Kirk. "My odds would be better if I could have just one phaser."

The reply was swift. "I like the odds as they are Koloth."

"A knife then, at least."

A curt shake of the head. "No knife either."

Sighing in exasperation the Klingon moved quickly. "It would have made _this_ neater and a lot easier." He caught a wrist manacle in his right hand and flipped it open, looking at the notched arm, then running his thumb along it. "Not even an edge there. Go take cover Kirk, when this all happens it will be fast."

Puzzled, Kirk continued watching as Koloth brutally raked the edge of his shackle across his left forearm at an angle, tearing a jagged wound several inches long and allowing pink Klingon blood to flow. He had the temerity to glance at Kirk and shake his head. "Go! Now!"

As soon as Kirk made the cover of the rock fall, Koloth threw his head back and roared a challenge to any and all. Then adjusted his restraints one last time before slumping back against the tree.

The raiders did not find them first, the cats did. Three of them padded in from downwind, a loose pack taking advantage of trees and rocks as cover. They were hard to see at first, palest gray against white snow, faintly spotted in differing shades of gray and brown. Each weighed a good 50 kilograms, and stalked in silently on thickly muscled legs. Because of its camouflage and easy movement, the first one was less than 15 meters from Koloth before Kirk saw it, but the phaser took it down easily and its two brethren as well.

Then the hunters were there, soundlessly, pouring over the rocks and slipping through the trees with ease. Koloth started to roll to his feet, then was forced at the last instant to throw himself to one side to dodge a well thrown spear that embedded itself deeply into the tree he had been leaning against an instant before. Using the momentum he had, Koloth rolled and brought his legs under himself, rolling onto his feet and taking a fight stance, chains clutched in his right hand.

Two burly hunters, bundled in heavy furs were first in line. Koloth swung the chains up and caught the nearer one full in the face and he went down. Kirk killed the other and cursed. They had not worked this out well, the raiders were going for Koloth, but Kirk now had to take the time to carefully aim and take his shots to avoid accidently hitting the fighting Klingon.

In an almost smooth motion Koloth seized and claimed the fallen barbarian's obsidian tipped long spear, then gave it right back, driving the point through the hunter's eye, killing him instantly. He whirled, looking for his next foe.

"I count six!" He yelled.

"Six it is then!" Kirk replied, hoping to draw some of the remaining hunters away from Koloth and towards his position. The tactic worked better than he hoped, as four peeled away and charged him en masse. He took down two in a moment, and the remaining duo changed tactics, veering in different directions in an obvious attempt to flank Kirk.

Koloth's remaining foe wielded a heavy club, dark with years of use and patina'd by decades of blood. The Klingon yanked his spear free from the dead huntsman and sidestepped a roaring charge from his enemy. Koloth used the split second to scoop up a set of chains from the ground and slung them at his opponent's legs. The chain wrapped around fur clad legs and tripped the big barbarian to the ground. Koloth put his entire weight against the spear, but his foe snarled and rolled away and onto his own feet.

Koloth, caught off guard and against momentum, fell to a knee and managed to free the spear from frozen earth, even as the club came swinging down. All he could do was angle the spear up and into the hunter's chest, watching it bite deep. He awkwardly threw himself to the right, and the huntsman fell lifeless across his back, pinning the Klingon to the ground.

Kirk's voice was close. "That was an impressive tactic, good thing I took care of the other four."

"It did not quite turn out the way I envisioned it, but the result is the same. They are dead and we are alive." Koloth freed himself and rose to his feet, then grinned at Kirk. "Now we have warm furs and good weapons."

"But no bodies yet. I want my crew's bodies back."

Koloth was busy stripping away the fur coat from the man who had fallen on him. He shrugged into the jacket and found the bone fastenings and closed the warm garment, then decided that the garment was too loose. The shackles caught his eye again and he fastened them end to end, then over his left shoulder. "Not quite a proper baldric, but will work. These chains have proven their worth, and may do so again." Then he knelt and drew a long obsidian dagger from the corpse's belt. "This blade is a proper weapon."

Kirk glanced at him, as he donned a fur coat of his own, then offered one of his trio of phasers. "No, Koloth, _This_ is a proper weapon."

Koloth appropriated the weapons belt from the huntsman, and cinched it around his middle, tucking both the phaser and the dagger on the right side, before claiming the spear again.

Kirk noticed that the Klingon was using the spear to lean on ever-so-slightly and that he tried to keep his left arm against his ribcage, shielding his left side. It had gradually grown darker, and they could barely see their back trail. Kirk looked at Koloth.

"We need more light, and there is emergency lighting at the shuttle."

"There could be, if it survived the crash Kirk."

"With this cloud cover, and nightfall we may not be able to see anything at all. We will go back to the shuttle and regroup and plan from there."

"You followed my plan and it worked. I will try your idea Captain Kirk, and enjoy every hour of freedom until these chains go back on."

Kirk led the way back to the shuttle, and it was full dark when they finally arrived. Warily they circled around the crash site several times, but there were no tracks in the snow. With nightfall, the wind had eased, but bone deep cold had descended as well, freezing every breath as it left them.

Inside the ruined ship, the emergency lights yet glowed. Kirk was concerned by the Klingon's pale face and haggard appearance. "Just how badly are you injured, not just from the fighting, but from the crash?"

"All my injuries will heal. It's just the cold. I _hate_ the cold." He spit a curse in Klingon, but settled into a nearby seat.

Kirk busied himself looking through the lockers and storage in the shuttle, tossing items into a pile. "Flashlights, medical kit." He tossed a small package towards Koloth. "Those are emergency rations, eat them. There should be water too, somewhere."

Koloth tore the package open with his teeth and wolfed down the compressed rations inside. "Where is your rescue crew Kirk?"

The Enterprise Captain paused and thought a moment. "A good question, and I have no idea where they are, but eventually they will get here." He resumed his search for supplies.

"We should break the emergency transponder free and carry it with us, if it is small enough."

"With us? Where are we going Koloth?"

"I thought you wanted your crew's bodies? I like fighting these, these Huntsmen. They are worthy foes, and fighting keeps me warm, or rather warmer than sitting here. I think we should take the battle to them, or at least see where they live and how many they are."

"Is that your only motive?"

The sly grin was back. "Of course not, in battle there is a good chance that you, or I, or both of us would perish. I would rather die than live in a cage or be slaughtered like a sheep."

Kirk studied Koloth a moment. "That, I believe, is the truth."

"Indeed it is." Koloth stood. "Where is the emergency beacon stored?"

Kirk paused, then pointed towards the most mangled area of the ship. "Behind a red panel in the middle of that tangled mess of metal there. "You cannot disable the beacon. It survived a crash it can survive you."

"I don't want to destroy it, only to free it so we can carry it. If your rescue crew arrives and we are not here, they might go away and leave us stranded here."

Minutes later Koloth had forged a narrow path into the curled metal and was busy prying and pushing at a twisted peel of metal. He braced his feet against it and his back against a panel and pushed hard. There was a loud creak and the metal gave way. Then the Klingon tilted his head slightly.

"What was that?"

Kirk was trying to get two of the emergency lanterns to work. He froze "What are you talking about."

The noise was soft and hard to hear, a brief scuffle then a whimper. Koloth crawled under a collapsed piece of bulkhead and found a closed panel door.

"Do you want to come out?" He paused.

The voice was a mere whisper. "No"

Kirk had edged in as close as he could. "Ensign Shelby? Is that you? Are you hurt?"

The voice was louder this time. "Yes, Captain, it is me, but I'm not hurt other than a few bruises I think. I was afraid. I hid. I am sorry."

Kirk spoke again "You can come out now."

Koloth thought a moment, then began backing slowly away. "She might be better off here in the shelter of this space, hidden inside this compartment. Let me ease away and Kirk, you can speak with her. If she's not hurt it is probably safer for the ensign here. I think it will not be safe for her if we go hunting and drag her along."

Kirk took off his heavy fur coat, and grabbed several items from his supplies. When he reached the hidden compartment, Ensign Shelby pushed the door open for the captain, and he gave her the coat, water, a lantern and some rations. "You stay here hidden and quiet. We have to take care of a few things, then we will be back."

The rookie sounded more confident, and pulled the supplies into the steel compartment. "Just don't forget me Captain."

He met her gaze, "I won't, I promise."

She pulled the panel closed, and Kirk carefully backed from the maze.

Koloth grinned, "Ready to go hunting?"


End file.
